Paperwing Winds
by Dreams and Wishes
Summary: Songfic Sabriel and Touchstone take a ride in the Paperwing. Set after Sabriel, before they were married.


**Untitled Sabriel/Touchstone **

I sighed, pressing my index fingers to my temples and attempting to concentrate on what I was reading. It was a rather long book with small text, all two hundred pages dedicated on how to banish a Mordicant. Though it was an easy task, the book was far from an easy read.

"The Mordicant may struggle and try spewing flames at you. If possible, bring along a pair of flame-resistant gloves. Also, the Mordicant has a powerful burning ability- if he burns you, it is advised that you seek help from a healer quickly. Untreated, Mordicant burns can develop into… blah, blah, blabity blah…" My mind quickly began to wander, glancing towards the window and watching how the bright sun cast beautiful patterns upon the carpet.

It had been nearly six months since the events at Wyverly. And since then, Touchstone and I had hardly ever been apart. I think he was scared for me sometimes, and I didn't blame him. I was scared about all the new duties that I had to take on, being hardly more than a child. Though I knew that I was able to handle the bells and deal with most dead creatures, I feared that some Greater Dead being would destroy me like it had destroyed my father.

"So, what is Sabriel thinking about today?" A pair of hands suddenly came down over my eyes, blocking out the sunlight that I had previously been staring at. I chuckled and reached up, grabbing Touchstone's arm and managing to wrestle his hands away from my eyes.

"Sabriel is thinking that _this _book…" I said, turning back to my desk and waving my hand towards Mordicants: A Complete History. "…is absolute rubbish. And terribly boring. And that I don't think you could make me read any more of it, even if there was a Mordicant standing right in front of me."

"Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we?" He replied with a laugh, covering my eyes again with one hand and then grabbing me gently around the waist. "How about we go on a little adventure, hmm?"

"Anything's better than Mordicants." I grumbled, willingly following him as he led me out of my study and up a few flights of stairs. "But where are we going? You aren't planning to chuck me into the Ratterlin, are you? I don't think that would go over too well with a lot of people- there's nobody to take my place yet as Abhorsen."

"I'm not planning to throw you into the river, silly." He said as I heard him inserting a key into a lock and turning it. "I've got something much more dangerous planned… something like… this!"

He quickly removed his hand to reveal a fragile looking craft with Charter Marks running along the sides. It was a magical object otherwise known as a Paperwing, though I had taken to calling it 'The Airplane of Death'.

"Oh no." I said, shaking my head in disapproval. "You've got to be kidding. You saw the results from the last time I flew this dratted thing. It nearly killed me. Well, it almost killed me… and Mogget really wasn't in his most helpful state at the time. Not like he's usually much help, but he was rather… err, incapacitated at the time."

"Well, it brought you to me, didn't it?"

Okay… he definitely had me on that one. If I hadn't crashed the Paperwing, I never would have discovered Holehollow, and I never would have been able to free him. After spending 200 years naked on the bow of a ship, he was really lucky that I had come along.

"Ohhh, alright. Just one flight though." I said, kissing him on the cheek and climbing in. "Then I've got to get back to the Mordicants. Wouldn't want to be an Abhorsen who didn't know how to deal with one of those, would I?"

"Oh dear!" He gasped, making a face of horror and disbelief as he climbed in and took a seat behind me. "I think it would be even more awful if you didn't take a break every now and then. And what's better than taking a flight in this beautiful thing?"

I could almost feel the Paperwing hum happily as he complimented it, but I was still distrustful of it. Whistling out a shrill, high note, it began to slowly lift off of the ground. I squished my eyes closed and prayed that I still had the ability to even operate it.

_It must have been cold there in my shadow,_

_to never have sunlight on your face._

_You were content to let me shine, that's your way._

_You always walked a step behind._

I smiled gratefully- it had worked. We had made a perfect takeoff, and it really was the best kind of day for flying. I looked over at Touchstone and smiled. Things had come such a long way since I'd found him, imprisoned and sick with guilt about what had happened to his family. I was still in mourning over the loss of my father, so maybe that was what just caused us to… click. He helped me, and I helped him. We went from traveling companions, to friends, to lovers in such a short time.

But he knew that I had duties. As Abhorsen, I was the one that the Kingdom turned to whenever there was anything dead on the loose. And I'll admit that I probably spent less and less time with him- this past week had been one of the few ones that I spent at home. And today was one of the first days that I had spent in his company in at least a month.

_So I was the one with all the glory,_

_while you were the one with all the strength._

He hadn't become King yet. There were plans for a grand coronation ceremony, but that wasn't for months. So he had to spend his time living with me and the Charter Sendings… and Mogget, of course. I don't think that he really minded the fact that I held a position of such power. For anyone that truly knew us, they knew that he was the one who held me together. He was the one who made me complete, who kept me from going insane. Who dragged me away from my work to do completely outlandish things.

_Did you ever know that you're my hero,_

_and everything I would like to be?_

But, at the same time, I idolized him for it. I didn't know how anyone could come out of a 200 year imprisonment, knowing that his family was dead and his brother had turned against him. But he had done it. I doubted that I had that kind of strength in me. There were days when I wished for it, when I prayed that he might be able to lend just a little bit of it to me.

_It might have appeared to go unnoticed,_

_but I've got it all here in my heart._

_I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it._

_I would be nothing without you._

"Touchstone?" I whispered, snuggling up next to him. The Paperwing was flying steadily now, kept in control by a series of whistles that would come from my lips every few minutes. I felt utterly content, as though there were nothing in the world that could change what I felt right now. What I felt for him right now. He moved over and allowed for me to sit beside him, wrapping one arm around my body and skillfully avoiding touching the bells that were slung over my chest.

"Yes, Sabriel?" He whispered, as though we were the only two people in the world. I smiled and leaned over, resting my head against his shoulder and closing my eyes for a quick moment.

_You're everything I wish I could be._

_I could fly higher than an eagle,_

_for you are the wind beneath my wings._

"I'm glad I found you." I whispered back, my eyes still closed as I felt the shifting winds move along the underside of the craft. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know what kind of person I'd be without you."

The air was silent for a few seconds, and I opened my eyes to find that Touchstone had closed his. It was just beginning to get dark now and I knew that we had to start heading back… but I never wanted this night to end. I was wishing that we could just stay like this forever, flying along together like the world couldn't touch us.

"I don't know what I'd do without you either, my Abhorsen." He finally said, opening his eyes just in time to press his lips to mine.

_Thank you, thank you,_

_thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings._


End file.
